Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Robert E. Roden
July 5, 2011
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood
(Also present is Mr. Roden’s wife, Jean Roden)
Clip 4
Robert E. Roden: I was on the battleship and at that time we was carrying about six hundred sailors, you know, aboard ship. And ah, I was in the division which, which was an antiaircraft division. We had seven divisions aboard ship that maintained the guns. Our first division had turret one, that was 14-inch guns, our main battery. Second division took care of turret two, third division took care of turret three which was the anch―on the anchor part of the ship and then turret four was the fourth division. Then we had the fifth division that maintained and, ah, took care of the 5-inch guns. And then we had the sixth division that was on the 40 millimeters and the seventh division, which I was on was, ah, maintained the 20 millimeters. And we had the forty-three 20 millimeter guns. We had eight mounts of 40 millimeters. They were quad; they had four barrels to each one of them. And they had single 5-inch, 5/ 38- mounts. We had, ah, eight of them, four on each port side and four on the starboard side. And then we had our twelve 14-inch guns. That's, that's our fire power we had aboard ship.
Clint Alley: Um-hm.
RER: All the guys that was in the, that maintained the guns and whatnot, they was in what they called the deck force.
CA: Um-hm.
RER: We took care of the ship up-keep. We took care of, ah, all the taking on fuel, taking on stores, anything maintaining the topside we took care of. Then we had the engineering division that run the ship. Like the people worked down in the engine rooms. They called them below deck people. So we had two different sets of people that operated the ships, ones that took care of the running of the ship and maintaining, ah, bringing stuff aboard and taking it off, and then we had the ones that, the engineers, whatnot, the engineering divisions that took care of the operation that kept the thing running. So, anything else you want to know? We had a lot of good times aboard ship. In between these operations we did we'd come back, our home base was Hawaii in the Aleutian Isl-, I mean in the Hawaiian Islands. So we spent off and on there. And we had liberty and didn't have no leave, but we had recreation in between operations. We, we wasn't solid―we'd spend a month or two at these places, you know. And one time we got to go to Sidney, Australia.
CA: Hm.
RER: And we went down there and spent a week.
CA: Um-hm.
RER: And we were well taken care down there, too. They were glad to see us, had a good time. Other than that, from the time I went aboard ship we didn't come back until right before Thanksgiving of '44. I went aboard it in '42 and then― in December of '42― and the next time we come back and I got leave and whatnot, the only leave I ever got was in 1944 and I went back right before Thanksgiving. And we come back for a yard period then. We had, we had to change our main battery. We had fired so many rounds―see, every one of these places we went to our job was bombarding the islands, softening it up and getting ready for the landings. We got there before the landing and we stayed there until after the landings. And we supported the troops whoever they were, the Marines or the Army, whoever landed, we supported them until the operation was over with. When we got up in the, in Iwo Jima, which I'll tell you this story. We got there before they landed troops. Of course, the Marines landed there at Iwo Jima. Y'all know the history of that. And we was there. We pulverized that island. It wasn't a very big island. It wasn't but about ten miles long and so it had this mountain on one end. I think there's three battleships that took place and we pulverized that island before, we thought we did, we thought we did. And our sector at Iwo Jima was a mountain. You know, you always talk about that mountain. I can't call the name of it, I got it here somewhere.
CA: Suribachi?
RER: Here it is right here. Mount―
CA: Suribachi.
RER: You know how to pronounce that? I can't. Well that was our sector. And we seen the flag raised there you know, the famous flag they got here. Well at that time, told you before, now I was on antiaircraft guns. We wasn't getting no planes at all so we was idle, us guys, all the crew that would, that would’ve shot―in fact, while we were bombarding this island before we landed troops we got close enough to the island that we scraped it with our antiaircraft guns.
RER: But we was just shooting at targets. We didn't know what we was shooting at. We just put a barrage up, you know. But anyway, during the time that, that we was there, we was on call fire. Well, call fire is when the troops over there that was, made the landings, if they had a skirmish that they couldn't take care of they’d call for us to fire. And they’d give us a sector. They, they had maps and whatnot and our officers and whatnot had maps, too, that operated our main battery and whatnot but they’d, we'd call fire. Well, we wasn't getting no air resistance, so we wasn't worried about planes so us guys that wasn't, wasn't doing anything― it was just the ones that was in the turrets and they’d just call one salvo at a time. Maybe every half hour or something like that, they'd call for one salvo to be shot here you know and everything. But our sector, our range was that mountain. So we was just sitting there. We had our glasses, we could look and we's just watching, we watched the Marines when they were making the landing they come right, right in front of our ship. See these carriers that carried troops, troop carriers, they was in a, they was in a group over here. And we was in between them and the island that we was bombarding, which was Iwo Jima on this particular thing. Well the troops had to come right in front of us on their landing barges and we'd hail at them, you know, and wish them luck and all that kind of stuff, you know. And then they'd make the landings. Well, we seen all that landing, it was just like a show. We just sat there with our glasses and seen every bit of it, you know. We was just sitting out there like we was on call fire. If they needed us, they’d use our main battery and call fire. Well while we was sitting there we watched all that operation going on, on that mountain, you know, the troops come up. We watched the Marines using their flame-throwers, you know. And they'd open them caves, you know, and shoot and shoot them flame-throwers in there. It was just like a, it was just almost like a movie, you know, just sitting there watching it. Course we wasn't but about a mile or two from the island ourselves, you know, sitting out there. Well, you could see a long way with your, with your binoculars. So we, we watched them guys go on up to the top of that mountain. It took them all one, one day to get up there. They got, when they got up there well they raised one flag, right when they got up there. And then they took it down and then raised the second flag. I seen ever bit of that.

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Transcriptions

Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Robert E. Roden
July 5, 2011
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood
(Also present is Mr. Roden’s wife, Jean Roden)
Clip 4
Robert E. Roden: I was on the battleship and at that time we was carrying about six hundred sailors, you know, aboard ship. And ah, I was in the division which, which was an antiaircraft division. We had seven divisions aboard ship that maintained the guns. Our first division had turret one, that was 14-inch guns, our main battery. Second division took care of turret two, third division took care of turret three which was the anch―on the anchor part of the ship and then turret four was the fourth division. Then we had the fifth division that maintained and, ah, took care of the 5-inch guns. And then we had the sixth division that was on the 40 millimeters and the seventh division, which I was on was, ah, maintained the 20 millimeters. And we had the forty-three 20 millimeter guns. We had eight mounts of 40 millimeters. They were quad; they had four barrels to each one of them. And they had single 5-inch, 5/ 38- mounts. We had, ah, eight of them, four on each port side and four on the starboard side. And then we had our twelve 14-inch guns. That's, that's our fire power we had aboard ship.
Clint Alley: Um-hm.
RER: All the guys that was in the, that maintained the guns and whatnot, they was in what they called the deck force.
CA: Um-hm.
RER: We took care of the ship up-keep. We took care of, ah, all the taking on fuel, taking on stores, anything maintaining the topside we took care of. Then we had the engineering division that run the ship. Like the people worked down in the engine rooms. They called them below deck people. So we had two different sets of people that operated the ships, ones that took care of the running of the ship and maintaining, ah, bringing stuff aboard and taking it off, and then we had the ones that, the engineers, whatnot, the engineering divisions that took care of the operation that kept the thing running. So, anything else you want to know? We had a lot of good times aboard ship. In between these operations we did we'd come back, our home base was Hawaii in the Aleutian Isl-, I mean in the Hawaiian Islands. So we spent off and on there. And we had liberty and didn't have no leave, but we had recreation in between operations. We, we wasn't solid―we'd spend a month or two at these places, you know. And one time we got to go to Sidney, Australia.
CA: Hm.
RER: And we went down there and spent a week.
CA: Um-hm.
RER: And we were well taken care down there, too. They were glad to see us, had a good time. Other than that, from the time I went aboard ship we didn't come back until right before Thanksgiving of '44. I went aboard it in '42 and then― in December of '42― and the next time we come back and I got leave and whatnot, the only leave I ever got was in 1944 and I went back right before Thanksgiving. And we come back for a yard period then. We had, we had to change our main battery. We had fired so many rounds―see, every one of these places we went to our job was bombarding the islands, softening it up and getting ready for the landings. We got there before the landing and we stayed there until after the landings. And we supported the troops whoever they were, the Marines or the Army, whoever landed, we supported them until the operation was over with. When we got up in the, in Iwo Jima, which I'll tell you this story. We got there before they landed troops. Of course, the Marines landed there at Iwo Jima. Y'all know the history of that. And we was there. We pulverized that island. It wasn't a very big island. It wasn't but about ten miles long and so it had this mountain on one end. I think there's three battleships that took place and we pulverized that island before, we thought we did, we thought we did. And our sector at Iwo Jima was a mountain. You know, you always talk about that mountain. I can't call the name of it, I got it here somewhere.
CA: Suribachi?
RER: Here it is right here. Mount―
CA: Suribachi.
RER: You know how to pronounce that? I can't. Well that was our sector. And we seen the flag raised there you know, the famous flag they got here. Well at that time, told you before, now I was on antiaircraft guns. We wasn't getting no planes at all so we was idle, us guys, all the crew that would, that would’ve shot―in fact, while we were bombarding this island before we landed troops we got close enough to the island that we scraped it with our antiaircraft guns.
RER: But we was just shooting at targets. We didn't know what we was shooting at. We just put a barrage up, you know. But anyway, during the time that, that we was there, we was on call fire. Well, call fire is when the troops over there that was, made the landings, if they had a skirmish that they couldn't take care of they’d call for us to fire. And they’d give us a sector. They, they had maps and whatnot and our officers and whatnot had maps, too, that operated our main battery and whatnot but they’d, we'd call fire. Well, we wasn't getting no air resistance, so we wasn't worried about planes so us guys that wasn't, wasn't doing anything― it was just the ones that was in the turrets and they’d just call one salvo at a time. Maybe every half hour or something like that, they'd call for one salvo to be shot here you know and everything. But our sector, our range was that mountain. So we was just sitting there. We had our glasses, we could look and we's just watching, we watched the Marines when they were making the landing they come right, right in front of our ship. See these carriers that carried troops, troop carriers, they was in a, they was in a group over here. And we was in between them and the island that we was bombarding, which was Iwo Jima on this particular thing. Well the troops had to come right in front of us on their landing barges and we'd hail at them, you know, and wish them luck and all that kind of stuff, you know. And then they'd make the landings. Well, we seen all that landing, it was just like a show. We just sat there with our glasses and seen every bit of it, you know. We was just sitting out there like we was on call fire. If they needed us, they’d use our main battery and call fire. Well while we was sitting there we watched all that operation going on, on that mountain, you know, the troops come up. We watched the Marines using their flame-throwers, you know. And they'd open them caves, you know, and shoot and shoot them flame-throwers in there. It was just like a, it was just almost like a movie, you know, just sitting there watching it. Course we wasn't but about a mile or two from the island ourselves, you know, sitting out there. Well, you could see a long way with your, with your binoculars. So we, we watched them guys go on up to the top of that mountain. It took them all one, one day to get up there. They got, when they got up there well they raised one flag, right when they got up there. And then they took it down and then raised the second flag. I seen ever bit of that.